Mischance
by cheeseandcrackers
Summary: In my mind I wasn't standing in front of the Cullen's house about to fight for both my life and theirs. I was on the beach in La Push surprisingly surrounded by those that were at the moment on their way to end my life. Bella's sister Brooke is moving in, and so is Victoria's army, changing the outcome of the battle. How will Brooke adapt to her new life? Eclipse with a twist.J/OC
1. Disclaimer

This is a disclaimer for the **whole** story.

I take credit only for the original characters use in this story, and the original use of plot. Stephenie Meyer and Co. own all Twilight characters, and the basic Twilight plot.

**No copyright infringement is intended. **

Please do not reproduce any part of this story without contacting me first.

-Cheeseandcrackers.


	2. Surprising

My computer messed up, sorry. I will be editing soon so once again, sorry for the inconvinience.

* * *

I couldn't believe this was finally happening. No matter how un enthusiastic Bella was about this, I was going to stay with her and Charlie in Forks for a while. She had made the decision almost two and a half years ago to move to Forks to stay with our father,when our mom's new husband, Phil,,said that he had received an offer to travel with a new baseball team. Bella and I had always been close, but mom had already been so upset that Bella was leaving, she begged me to stay and travel with her and Phil. It hadn't been too bad at first, but I soon found myself missing Bella.

She'd stopped replying to my emails almost a year ago. I assume because of her boyfriend, Edwin or something. I'd called Charlie after almost seven months with no contact and he'd explained to me the whole depressing story of her boyfriend's family moving and how suddenly Bella ran away to Italy, giving him a heart attack, only to return three days later with the whole family. That was when I made my decision to move to Forks.

Running away after a boy was not the Bella that I knew and loved -not making an effort to keep contact with me certainly was not.

I explained the situation to mom, who agreed that staying with Charlie in a permanent home would be better than moving around with her and Phil, even though she'd horribly miss me. Yeah, right. I saw the looks her and Phil were constantly giving each other and I was positive that they wouldn't mind the alone time. After calling Charlie, he happily agreed with the whole plan, including the surprising Bella part.

I was overwhelmed with happiness that I would get to be living with my father and sister. I'd been missing them so much;we were all alike:quiet, shy, clumsy, although I'm not afraid to stand up for myself. It wasn't that I didn't love Renée, because I do; it's just that I could tell that I was in ways holding her and Phil back.

So, here I was, sitting at the airport in Seattle, waiting for Charlie to come and pick me up. I had celebrated my sixteenth birthday almost nine months ago and had just received my full license, but I wasn't familiar with the area and actually wanted to spend the quality time of the drive with Charlie. I was excited about surprising Bella. Charlie had said that her and her boyfriend, whatever his name was, were on good terms again so she would be at his house all day helping clean up from the graduation party they had just last night.

"Brooke?" A deep voice asked nervously.

I turned around at the sound of my name to spot my father, Charlie standing only five feet away. I quickly dropped the two bags I had brought with me and ran over to him, jumping into his open arms for a long awaited hug.

"Wow dad, you must have missed me if you're actually letting me hug you in public," I joked.

Being the Chief of Police in Forks, Charlie was never one for public affection; probably scared it would ruin his 'tough guy rep' or something silly like that.

"Always the joker.I've missed you kiddo. I know it's been hard for you and Bells both, being away from each other. I'm glad to have you here," he said.

"And she still has no idea that I'm here?" I asked hopefully. In my hurry to get on the first flight here, I hadn't had time to buy Bella a graduation gift, so my surprising arrival was her gift.

"No idea. You know her, she's running around all worried and scared all of the time. Between you and me, I think she's scared to be graduating and leaving home," he replied.

That was another upside to moving here with Charlie. Bella would soon be leaving home, and I honestly didn't want Charlie to be alone. Maybe if I was here, he wouldn't miss her as much.

"Yeah, that must be why she hasn't contacted me in a while." I silently hoped that Charlie would agree so that the nagging feeling that she had forgotten about me would prove to be incorrect.

"Hmph. No that would be all thanks to her wonderful new _boyfriend_, _Edward_, keeping her occupied 24/7. I swear, ever since that kid came back the two have been inseparable. Well except for when she goes to visit Jake," he said, finishing with a smile towards the end. It was obvious that dad was obviously still feeling hatred towards Edward for leaving Bella in the middle of the woods, and was still silently rooting for Jacob.

"How is Jake?" I asked."I haven't seen him and Billy in forever."

"He's doing good, just took a huge growth spurt not that long ago. Heck all of those La Push boys are quite the size. They don't cause many problems though besides bad attendance…" he trailed off; already his brain was occupied with police things.

"Well, I guess I'll see for myself," I said with a small smile before noticing something.

"Hey, where's the cruiser?"

"Oh, well Edward picked Bella up today so I just took her truck instead of putting more miles on the cruiser. That old thing won't make it much longer anyways, might as well get some use out of it before it goes," he replied.

"I see. So where is this so called 'truck' then?" I asked, picking up one of my bags while Charlie picked up the other and began walking.

"No laughing. It was the perfect truck for Bella. I know that your tastes are a little bit different…" he trailed off, running a hand nervously through his hair.

_It must be an oldie, _I thought to myself. He was right though; Bella and I got along great, we were best friends, but we had completely different tastes. I loved to read. Just like her, reading was one of my favourite past times with all of the travelling I had been doing. Yet, unlike Bella, I loved to go shopping for clothes, dressing up, and when I was with my friends, joking around and being in the spotlight. I was always shy around people I didn't know, but once I got comfortable with someone, I guess I was hard to shut up.

It was then that I had noticed. Charlie had stopped walking and looked at me expectantly.

"What?" I asked.

The truck wasn't that bad;a little rusty and old for my taste, but it would fit Bells perfectly.

"Nothing, I guess. Are you going to give me your other bag?" He took my other bag from my hand and placed it in the back of the truck with the other.

"Hmm, mind if I drive? I just got my full license, and I could use the practice." I put on my best puppy dog face.

Charlie seemed to contemplate everything that could go wrong for a few minutes, before placing the keys in my waiting hand.

"Alright, but this old thing won't go over 60 now." He grinned.

"I knew there would be a catch," I mumbled, climbing into the driver's seat as he hopped into the passenger side. I loved going fast.

* * *

It was a silent drive to Forks; I suppose that Charlie didn't want to 'distract' me or something. I could tell he was nervous that I was driving.

He directed me towards the driveway and I pulled into the old house I remembered.

"Nothing's changed." I smiled happily.

"Nope, I haven't done any big renovations or anything since your mom left with you two," he said.

"Hmm. Well, when is Bells getting home? I want to surprise her right now!" I whined. The excitement was getting to me.

"Edward normally brings her home around five so she can make supper. I figure by the time you're done unpacking, Bella should be home."

We climbed out of the car, grabbed my bags, and made our way inside.

"I figured that you could take my room. I don't mind sleeping on the pull-out couch," Charlie said.

"No way dad! I'll bunk with Bella, there's a whole half of the bed uncalled for and I'm sure she won't mind either," I explained.

"Well, I guess you could always do that too, but I really don't mind," he said.

"Nonsense dad, you know me and Bells get along great," I said with a smile and made my way up the stairs.

* * *

Almost two hours later I was finally done unpacking when I hear the front door slam downstairs. I decided to eavesdrop a little bit before making my surprise entrance.

"Alice! What a nice surprise," Charlie said.

"Hello to you too, dad," I heard Bella's sarcastic reply.

"Hi Charlie, it's great to see you!" A voice I didn't recognize say.

_Must be 'Alice'_, I thought to myself.

"Are you staying for supper? I ordered a pizza," Charlie asked hopefully.

"No, the family is waiting at home for me. I just stopped by to ask if it would be okay if Bella came to stay with me for the weekend. You see, all the family is going hiking, but I would much rather go shopping and I just don't want to shop by myself…" Alice trailed off.

"Oh! Of course not, just you and Bella right?" Charlie asked.

She must have just nodded or something because it was Charlie again who spoke next.

"Well then I have no problem with it, do you want to go Bells?"

"Yeah dad, I would really like that. You're going to be fishing with Billy right?" Bella asked.

"Well, I wasn't going to, but I guess I will if you girls are going out," he replied.

"Yeah, you should definitely go dad, have some fun at La Push," Bella said.

"Well, I better be going. I'll pick you up tomorrow around lunch time, Bella," Alice said, and I heard the front door shut quietly.

I took this as my cue to make my entrance. I slowly came down the stairs and came face to face with Bella.

"Wha….What? No…no! You-You can't be here! Not now!" Bella stammered. Her face turned ghastly pale and she started to shake with what looked like fear.

"Bella, what's wrong? I thought that-I thought you'd be happy to see me! I'm going to be living with you and Charlie!" I said excitedly, although Bella was still just staring at me, looking scared to death.


	3. Greeting

"You mean you're staying here?" Bella asked, seemingly nervous.

"Well yeah, the point of me being here is to stay. I couldn't really afford a graduation gift and you stopped emailing me. I missed you, Bells, you're going to be leaving for college soon and I wanted to keep Dad company anyway," I babbled. I was nervous now. I honestly didn't know what to expect when Bella saw me; fear definitely wasn't on the list at all.

"I'm confused," I paused, taking a deep breath before I continued. "I thought that you'd be happy to see me. I mean, I know you have a boyfriend now and that apparently makes you too busy to email me back, but you're still my sister...my best friend!"

"It's just...I...now is not a good time, Brooke!" Bella cried.

"Well when would be a good time dear sister? Because I am getting sick and tired of sitting around waiting for you to make contact. Either way, I'm staying. I don't know what your problem is, but I'm here for Dad just as much as I am for you," I argued.

This answer seemed to frustrate her even more. This time she chose just to not answer me. I didn't know why she didn't want me here; it wasn't as though I was going to steal her boyfriend or something. Wait, boyfriend!

"Is this about your boyfriend, Edmund?"

"It's Edward," she grunted, "and no, this is not about Edward at all. You just shouldn't be here right now, Brooke, it's dangerous."

"It would be dangerous for me and nobody else because...?"

"Because...because...I have to call Edward," she mumbled, turning and walking away from me, into the kitchen. I followed her lead. I wasn't going to allow her to brush off telling me why she didn't want me here so that she could talk to Edward. Nope, I was as stubborn as mule and I demanded answers. Something was going on here.

"Edward? We have a complication," she paused, "with um... our _plans_ this _weekend_."

She couldn't be serious! She was mad because she had plans with Edward this weekend, and I was apparently ruining it? Despicable.

"Yeah, that. My sister Brooke flew in as a surprise for me. I guess she's moving in with Charlie,"

"I don't know! I can't be sure!" she cried.

"Okay...yeah."

"Just," she lowered her voice to the point where I had to strain to hear, "just come smell her and see please, everything could be ruined if she smells even remotely the same as me!"

I couldn't have heard her right. Damn hearing; obviously she didn't just ask her boyfriend to come smell me. What the hell was going on?

"See you soon," she mumbled, hanging the phone back on the wall.

'Bella, you better tell me what the hell is going on. I may have only caught half of that conversation, but I still don't get what the big deal is." I paused, trying to gather myself before I started to really go off on her. "Look, go on your secret date with your boyfriend this weekend. If you want me out of the house, I'll find something else to do. Maybe I'll just drive down to Seattle for the weekend or something."

"No!" she screamed. "You can't go to Seattle! You can't go anywhere! Just give me some time to figure this out. I promise that I'll explain everything to you; I just need to see Edward first. I am glad to see you Brookie, **(AN: Pronounced Brook**_**E**_ **emphasis on the e) **you just have crappy timing."

I just sat there and stared at Bella. The doorbell rang, but neither one of us made a move to get it.

"Well that must be the pizza," Charlie said, opening the door.

"Oh, it's you. You can't stay tonight, Edward. Bella's sister Brooke just flew in to stay and she's getting settled. It's been a while since they've seen each other and I want them to be able to have some time alone to talk," he ordered.

"Of course, Charlie. I just stopped by to tell Bella goodbye, before my brother and I left for our camping trip. We leave first thing in the morning." A melodious voice sang. Well not really singing, but it was pretty damn close.

"Make it quick," Charlie grunted.

Bella broke off our little squabble to listen in on Charlie's greeting to Edward, and her face brightened when Edward entered the kitchen from behind me. I sighed loudly before turning to face him.

I certainly wasn't expecting to be faced by a Greek god. He was flawless; every feature on his face was perfect. He was extremely pale, a pale that was only emphasized by the honey-butterscotch that were his eyes. He was tall and lean, although he was no doubt completely ripped beneath his blue polo. Even though he wasn't my type, I preferred more of the rugged, buff men, he certainly was gorgeous. And that's not a word I would have used on just anybody.

"Hello, my name is Edward Cullen." He spoke softly, offering his hand. "You must be Bella's younger sister, Brooke."

"Yeah," I said, momentarily stunned, before taking his hand.

"Holy crud! Your hands are freezing!" I exclaimed, taking my hand back.

"Yes, I have poor circulation, and it's a bit chilly outside from the rain," he explained.

It made sense; yet for some reason, I couldn't make myself believe it. I simply nodded.

"So, Bella tells me that you will be moving in with Charlie," he said.

"Well technically I already am moved in. Bella will be moving out soon, so I am planning to take her room when she goes. Until then, we're bunking." I replied, shrugging my shoulders.

"What do you mean bunking?" Bella cut in.

"Don't sound so excited. If it's that big of a deal I'll just take the couch," I said.

Bella and Edward shared a look. I could only guess that he had been sneaking in for late night visits or something. An awkward silence ensued. Well, it was awkward for me, being the third wheel and all. I took this as my cue to leave.

"Well, I have some pretty bad jet lag; I'm just going to head up to bed now. See you in the morning, Bells. It was nice meeting you, Edward," I said, giving a polite nod before walking up the stairs to the bedroom.


	4. Convincing

I had woken up fairly early the next morning, having gone to be so early the night before because of the awkward chat with Bells and her boyfriend. I quickly showered and dressed, heading downstairs to meet Charlie.

"Good morning, Brooke. You're up early,"he said.

"Yeah, my clock's all messed up, I guess I went to bed too early," I replied.

"Oh, I see. Well, Bells should be up soon anyways. I'm not quite sure what time she's going over to there house to meet up with Alice for their shopping trip, but it will probably be early. I'm heading out to work now, "

"Kay, be safe dad," I said.

"Always am Brooke," he gruffly replied.

_Well, what am I suppose to do now_, I thought. I honestly felt bad about everything that had happened with Bells last night, I don't know what her problem was, but still I had missed her a lot. Before I quite knew what I was doing, I was in front of Bella's bedroom door. I knocked hesitantly.

"Bells? I'm coming in, this is your two second warning."

I opened the door only to see Bella already sitting up, staring at me worriedly.

"Bells, would you please tell me what's wrong now. This is making me feel nervous," I said.

"You and me both," she mumbled, although I still heard.

She paused, taking a deep breath, before she began,

"Okay, I know you're not going to believe me when I say this, but something is happening this weekend, something dangerous. I'm not really going shopping, Edward is taking me to hide somewhere while the Cullen family and some guys from La Push take care of the problem."

"What kind of problem, and what does this have to do with me?" I asked.

"Okay, this is were you're going to have to trust me. I can't tell you anymore than I already have, it would be dangerous for you to know Brooke, but the thing is, I need for you to go and stay in La Push this weekend. Please I beg you, Brooke, for me."

I thought everything over. She was in danger and she was more worried about were I was going to be staying while she potentially avoided this so called 'danger'?

"Are you insane! You have to tell Charlie! He can take care of it better than those people!" I yelled.

"Brooke, time is limited. It would be easier if I could explain everything to you, but it's bad enough that I know everything. You have to trust me and listen to me, please!" she cried frantically.

"Bells, I just...are you sure? I mean, can't you stay in La Push with me then?" I questioned.

"No, it might lead them there. I'm positive about this Brooke, I've never lied to you before," she said.

"I'll go to La Push if you promise me one thing," I whispered.

"Anything."

"I want you to explain to me everything. Bells, if the situation was reversed you know that you would want -no- need to know. I don't think that I could handle not knowing what's going on," I explained.

"Brooke...I...it's not my decision to make. I understand exactly where you're coming from, but I just can't. If you knew, you'd be in more danger!"

"Okay then, promise me that you'll tell me once all of this is over, once the danger had passed," I said.

"You're so stubborn. Okay, I promise you that once the danger has passed that I will tell you everything, as long as the Cullen's say that it's okay."

"I want to know either way Bells, I'm not budging on this," I said, crossing my arms.

Bella sighed loudly, cursing at the ceiling.

"You'll go to La Push and stay out of trouble if I promise you that I'll tell you everything once the danger has passed?"she clarified.

"Yes, I'll do whatever you say, as long as your sure that it's what's best."

"Then I promise that I'll tell you, no matter what, once everything is safe. Go pack your bags, I'm taking you to La Push."

"Right now! But I thought that you said Saturday, today is only Thursday!" I exclaimed.

"Yes, but I'm leaving tonight to, for the Cullen's. I'll introduce you to everyone in La Push, then I'm leaving. I need to know that you're safe," she replied.

I turned quietly, and exited her room heading downstairs to grab my still packed bag. If Bella promised that she would explain everything to me, then I believed her.

"Bella, I'm ready whenever you are!" I yelled up the stairs.

"Okay, give me a minute, Brookie!" she yelled back down.

I set my bag down, when the phone rang.

"Can you grab that, Brookie? My hands are full at the minute!" Bella asked.

I made no reply, only reached for the phone.

"Swan residence, Brooke speaking," I greeted.

"Brooke? Is Bella there?" A gruff voice asked.

"She's busy at the moment, may I ask who's calling?" I asked with fake cheeriness. I hated using stupid manners on the phone...

"Can you tell her that it's Jake, you know, from La Push?"

"La Push?" I asked.

"Uh, yeah." Jake replied.

"Oh, we're actually on our way down there right now," I explained.

"Really! That's great! Just tell her I'll see her when she get here then!" Jake perked up.

"Will do," I replied, but was only meet with the dial tone.

"Good bye to you too," I murmured.

I turned, only to see Bella making her way down the stairs with a small bag.

"Hey! Ready to head out?" she asked, smiling at me.

"For some one in danger, you're way to happy. Are you sure this isn't just some plot to get rid of me?" I asked. Actually, that kind of made some sense.

"I wish." She smiled sadly.

I nodded my head, grabbed my bag and made my way out the door leaving Bella behind to lock up. After throwing my bag in the bed of the truck, I opened the passenger side and climbed in, Bella already in the drivers side. She started the truck and headed towards, what I assumed, was La Push.

It was silent, so I was left to my thoughts. It killed me to think that she was in danger , but what could I do? She said that the Cullen's and some guys from La Push were going to take care of it, and that Edward was going to hide her. Nothing big was going to happen, right? Nobody was going to get hurt.

Then why did I have a bad feeling that I was wrong?


	5. Moving

We had been driving for almost fifteen minutes when we finally stopped outside of what looked like a barn. Okay, so it wasn't a barn, but with the colour red that it was, it certainly could of passed for one had it been a little bigger.

Bella shut off the truck and turned to face me.

"Brooke, I don't know if you remember Jake or not. I think the last time you two saw each other you were both pretty young..." Bella trailed off.

"Bella, do we have to do this?" I asked, twirling the ring on my finger nervously.

"You're both the same age, so there's no problem there. They're all huge, but don't let that intimidate you. They really are great guys," she said, ignoring my comments.

"Just be safe, please," I whispered.

"I'll do my best. I just want you to know that no matter what happens-" Bella began.

"Don't even go there, Bella. Nothing is going to happen to you so don't," I said, my voice low.

"Either way, I love you."

"Love you more, Bells."

I opened the door, a lone tear trailing down my cheek. What was I getting myself into? I was scared silly for my sister, the knots in my stomach growing with each passing second. Yanking my bag from the back of the truck, I started to make my way up the small walk, directly behind Bella.

I stopped as something came to mind.

"Where are we?" I asked, looking at my surroundings.

"Jake's house."

"Oh, right, I knew that," I said.

When we were almost to the door, it surprisingly swung open.

"Bella!" the voice cheered.

"Hey, Jake!" Bella replied, pulling the large man into a hug.

"Jake, I don't know if you remember my sister Brooke or not. You're both the same age, so I figured maybe she could stay with you in La Push until everything calms down," Bella said, biting her lip and looking up at him through her lashes.

Was she attempting to flirt? Oh, this was rich.

"Uh, sure, sure. Does she know...?"

"No, I didn't think that would be a good decision," Bella said, her tone hinting that he should change the subject.

"We'll talk about it later. Where is Brooke?" Jake asked.

I took this as my cue to step up.

"Uhm," I coughed. "Hi, Jake. I'm Brooke, in case you've forgotten me, I'm the one that made you eat the mud pie," I said while smirking, and offering him my hand.

He grabbed my hand in a firm shake, throaty laughter escaping through his lips.

"How could I forget."

"Holy jam jar! What is with people around here!" I cried. "First, Edward's hands felt like he dunked them in an ice tank, and your hands feel like you spent all day sticking them in front of the heater!"

"Uh-Um..." Jake sputtered.

"Jake! It's rude to keep your guests outside. Invite them in!" A voice from inside hollered.

"Bella, Brooke, do you want to come in?" Jake questioned, gesturing with his hand towards the door.

"Well obviously I don't plan on sleeping outside," I snorted. Bella quickly shot me a dirty look.

"I mean- of course Jacob!" I said cheerily.

"Okay then. Bells, you coming in for a bit?" Jake asked, turning his back to me.

"Well then. I'll just lead the way," I mumbled to myself.

I walked through the open door, lugging my bag behind me. The first thing I noticed was that the house smelt like those green air fresheners. The pine ones, except not as strong. When you first stepped into the house, there was a long, narrow hallway that from what I could catch a glimpse of, led into a tiny kitchen. Almost four steps into the hallway, an opening was in the wall that I could now distinguish, led into the living room. I could see a man watching TV. I stepped into the living room, and sat down on the arm of the couch.

"Um...hello, I'm Brooke. I guess I'm staying here for a couple of days?" I questioned, seeking approval from what I assumed to be Billy Black, Jake's dad.

"Brooke! Why, I haven't seen you since you were this tall!" he raised his hand about four feet in the air. "How have you been?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm all grown up now. I've been good besides the fact that my sister's in apparent danger. Speaking of that, I don't suppose you want to fill me in on why I'm staying here?" I asked with a smile.

"Hmm..." he scratched his chin "...no, I don't suppose I do. Don't worry kiddo, I know these boys can protect your sister better than anybody else," he said, returning the smile.

"I don't understand why nobody can tell me-" I threw my hands dramatically in the air and plopped down on the couch "-if it involves my sister, it involves me," I stated.

"I know that you're concerned for your sister, Brooke. Just trust me when I say the La Push boys are the best people for the job. I trust them completely, and you should too," Billy said.

"Hey dad! Bella couldn't stay, but she said that she might drop by tomorrow if she can," Jake hollered from the hallway.

"Why don't you come show Brooke her room and then take her over to Sam and Emily's for a bit?" Billy yelled back.

"Great idea. Brooke, are you okay with that?" Jake asked me, entering the room.

It wasn't that I didn't want to meet all of Jake's friends. The way Bella described them, they sounded great. I just didn't think that I could handle being around any more people who knew this big 'secret' and not blow up.

"Actually, I'm kind of tired; it's been a long day. Do you think it would be okay if I just hung around here today? Maybe I could make you guys some supper?" I propositioned.

Billy looked away from the television to scrutinize me.

"You'd make us supper? In the kitchen?" he questioned.

"Uh...yeah. Isn't that where you guys make your meals here?" I replied.

Jake began to laugh, and a smile spread across Billy's face.

"Sorry, Brooke. Our kitchen hasn't really had anybody cooking in it for a while. Sue or Emily normally send something over, or we call for pizza," Jake explained.

"Really? Well then, it's settled. I'm making you guys a home cooked meal tonight!" I exclaimed.

"Are you sure you can only stay for a couple of days?" Billy joked.

"Unfortunately, I did move here to stay with my dad when Bella leaves for university." I smiled.

Jake and Billy both seemed to tense up when I said this, and shared a sad look. Breaking the mood, Billy said, "Good old Charlie is set for life."

"It seems so," I whispered. Why did they react like that when I said Bella was going to university? Did they have some kind of aversion to university students?

"So, Brooke, you'll be staying in my old room. I moved into Rachel and Rebecca's old room when they moved out because it was bigger..." Jake trailed on.

"I really don't mind. Just show me the way," I urged.

Jake led me into the hallway, pointing out which room was which along the way.

"This is the bathroom," he said, pointing to the door across from the living room. "The right one is Billy's room, the one on the left is mine, and the middle one is yours." He pointed to three doors that were lined up on the wall.

"Oh, and in case you haven't noticed, that's the kitchen at the end of the hall. There's a backdoor in the kitchen. The backyard is all woods basically. Most importantly, speaking of woods, never go in the woods alone," Jake warned.

"Won't be a problem; I'm claustrophobic. The woods scare me." I smirked.

"Well, that's everything I suppose. Make yourself at home; I can show you around La Push later, if you'd like. I'm heading over to Sam and Emily's, and then I have to work. I should be back in time for supper," Jake explained, beginning to walk away.

He stopped walking as though he just remembered something important. Turning, he said, "Just so you know, I eat a lot. I would make enough food for about six people if I were you." He flashed me a smile, continuing to walk down the hallway and out the door.

I opened the middle door and stepped inside, closing the door behind me. The room was... cozy. It was a small room, with only dim light coming in through a surprisingly large window along the wall opposite the door. There was a cot pushed up against the right wall, with plain, white sheets covering it. On the left wall, a modest dresser and desk were side by side. I noticed a tiny, beige lamp sitting on the corner of the cramped desk, and flicked it on. Light flooded the small room quickly, bouncing off of the pale blue walls.

I decided not to stall any longer, and began to unpack the small amount of clothes I had brought with me into the dresser.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

That night, as I was laying in the warmth of my bed, I realized that Jake was right when he said he could eat. I had made enough for six, like instructed, and he ate everything that Billy and I had left! Yet another thing to add to my list I suppose. If I was going to be cooped up in La Push for the next three days, then I was going to enjoy it snooping around.

"I will find out what is going on," I whispered to myself.

I pulled the covers tight, and did something I had not done in a while.

"Lord, I don't know if you can hear me or not...I'm sorry that I haven't done this in a while. I just wanted to ask you to keep my sister safe this weekend. She's a good person, she deserves to have somebody looking after her after all she's done for mom and me. Please, Lord, here my prayer."

I drifted off into a peaceful sleep after that, the soft sounds of rain my soothing lullaby.


	6. Befriending

"Guys, no!" Jake whispered fiercely.

Why is he outside of my room? I'm going to kill him for waking me up.

"Come on, Jake. I'm not waiting _all_ day!" A deep voice replied.

Oh great, a party outside of my room.

"Yeah, I'm with Quil. We'll be really nice about it." Yet another deep voice said.

Did he invite the whole fricken' village?

"Ugh, don't hurt her, I'm having nothing to do with this." Jake said, his voice seeming further away.

That didn't sound promising. I'd caught on that they were talking about me, stuffing the pillows in the shape of a body underneath the covers, I ran over to the closet and hid.

"Yes you are, you're giving us permission." The first guy said.

Definitely going to come in here.

"Just do it before I change my mind!" I could barely hear Jake's voice at this point.

Nice, Jake. I barely know you and you're letting two strangers into my room?

I stopped my inner monologue when my door slowly creaked open. Two figures, almost as large as Jake, slyly slithered into the room.

How can they be so large, and not make a noise? I added that to my list of weirdness and decided to think about it later.

One of them pointed to the bed and covered their mouth in silent laughter. The guy hit him in the back of the head, shook his head, and continued to travel towards the bed. Just as they were about to reach the bed and pull down the covers, I opened the closet door.

"Don't move or I will shoot you both!"

The two of them froze with their hands above their heads.

"Don't shoot! I'm too young to die!"

"Quil would you just shut up!" The other man said, beginning to shake.

"Paul, cool it."

"What are you doing in my room?" I asked.

"We were just coming to wake you up," Quil said.

"Yeah, I don't want to waste a sunny day waiting for you to get out of bed," Paul agreed.

"You can turn around," I said.

Slowly, they turned around, hands still in the air.

"I never really had a gun you know. I just thought it would be a nice touch, it works in the movies," I joked.

Paul began to shake.

"Dude, calm down. Give the girl props, that was a good one," Quil said, hitting Paul lightly on the shoulder.

Closing his eyes, Paul stopped shaking.

"Yeah okay, you got us. I guess you're cool enough to hang with us, let's go down to the beach now." Paul said, smirking slightly.

I gave a pointed look towards the door.

"Give me five minutes, and can one of you go hit Jake for me? I would do it myself but apparently that won't do my hand any good..." I said.

Both of them burst into laughter.

"Alright you've got five minutes, no more than that," Quil said.

They left the room, closing the door behind them. Rolling my eyes, I got dressed for the beach.

"I can't believe it's sunny!" I cried, throwing my hands toward the glorious sky.

"It doesn't happen often," Jake agreed, smiling.

I got a tingly feeling in my stomach. I couldn't really figure it out, when Jake smiled at me like that I felt happy, I felt completed.

"So...how many of your friends are coming today?" I asked.

"Sam will come with Emily, Jared with Kim, Paul and my sister, Rachel, Quil, Embry, and Seth. You'll probably meet Leah, Brady, Collin later. They had... prior arrangements made for today," Jake told me, pointing off people with his fingers.

"Your sister? I thought Billy said they moved away?" I asked confused.

"Yeah, Becca lives in Hawaii still, but Rach came back for a visit and her and Paul hit it off. She volunteered to stay with Emily for a while so you could stay at our house," Jake explained.

"She moved out of her own house for me?" I exclaimed, my voice rising in question.

"Uh...yeah. Don't worry about it though, she wanted to. It gives her and Paul more 'quality time' together," Jake said grimacing.

"Well I guess that makes me feel a little better," I replied.

Jake smiled.

"Good, you're suppose to feel comfortable here, Brooke."

"Speaking of comfortable, maybe you could refrain from letting total strangers into my room again?" I said sarcastically.

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that. They were just really eager to get to the beach since they have to work later. I held them off for as long as I could," Jake said, scratching the back of his head.

I smiled at him.

"I'll let it slide this time, only because I owe you one."

"How do you figure you owe me one?" Jake asked, his face brows drawing together.

"For all of those times I kicked your butt when we were trying to see who could make the best mud-castle." I smiled.

"Hah! I remember it the other way around!" Jake said, laughing loudly.

"You would, you're a guy," I said, rolling my eyes.

"What's that suppose to mean?" he asked.

"It means that guys can't lose to girls, they always have to win," I retorted.

"Sure, sure." He punched my shoulder lightly.

I felt comfortable with Jake, safe somehow. It wasn't like I was drawn to him or anything, but it was like we've been best friends since the day I was born. It sounded silly, but I felt connected to him somehow.

Jake continued to lead me down the beach, staring at me oddly.

"Do I have something on my face?" I asked jokingly.

"No..." he shook his head "...I have to go talk to, Sam. Why don't you go hang out with the girls." he said, pointing me towards three girls sitting on a beach towel.

"Um, okay I guess." I said, confused.

**Jake's POV **

Why was I feeling this way? I hadn't imprinted on her or anything, but I felt connected to her. I felt completely comfortable with her and like I could tell her anything. I had to talk to Sam. I felt bad about brushing her off, but I had to straighten this out.

I approached Sam as he came down from the path in the woods.

"Hey man, can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked.

"Sure, Jake. What can I help you with?" he said.

"It's about Brooke actually." I said sheepishly.

Sam sighed.

"Jake, not this again..."

"No, it's different Sam!" I said quickly.

"Did you imprint on her?" he asked.

"Well no, but I feel strangely drawn to her. I feel like we're best friends and like I can tell her anything. I don't know what's wrong with me..." I whispered.

"It's obviously not different then," he said sarcastically.

I simply continued to look at the ground.

Sam sat on the ground next to me.

"Maybe it's not what's wrong with you, Jake. Maybe it's just the effect the Swan girls have on you," he said softly.

"No, this is different then, Bella. It's more, real. I never felt connected to Bella until after the leech left her and we'd been hanging out for a while. With Brooke, it was like as soon as we started talking."

"You're sure you didn't imprint on her?" Sam questioned.

"Positive, there was no gravity trick or any of that nonsense you say imprinting is. I just feel... I feel like I'm meant to be with her though. Does that sound strange?" I said.

"No, but you're imprint will come along eventually, Jake. Maybe you should stop getting hung up on these girls," Sam said cautiously.

"I can't do that, Sam."

"Well then become friends with her, only friends. Maybe that's why you feel this way, you're meant to support her and be her friend." he explained.

"That makes sense," I agreed.

"Just do me a favour and don't tell, Paul. From what I heard, he likes her so far. No need to tell him and get him hating her like he hates, Bella."

"Avoid all conflict, got it," I said, saluting.

Sam punched me in the arm softly.

"Jake, I'll always support you. If you need anything, know that I'm always here. As long as it's not something stupid that is," Sam said.

"Thanks, Sam."

Brooke's POV

So far, I was liking La Push. Emily, Rachel, Kim and I had been sitting on the beach, working on our tan's, and I'd been getting the gossip.

"So Jake is like, in love with my sister?" I asked shocked.

"I don't think he is anymore, I think he's got his eye on somebody else now," Rachel said happily.

"Who?" I demanded, sitting up on my elbows to look at her.

She opened her mouth to reply, when a shadow blocked my sunlight.

"Paul!"  
"Jared!"

"Sam!"

All three girls smiled, and got up to make room for their men.

"Where did Jake go?" I asked Sam.

"He's coming, I think he went up on the cliffs with Embry and Quil," Sam replied, smiling slightly at me.

"The cliffs?" I questioned.

"Oh lord, do you people live at all?" Paul asked me.

"I'm not sure what you mean by that, but I'm ignoring you," I said.

"What Paul means is, Bella didn't know about cliff diving either," Emily said, hitting Paul with a plastic shovel. "You be nice to her, we like her!" Emily said to him.

I suppressed a smile.

"So you guys jump off of the cliffs?" I asked.

"Yup," Jared said, not looking up from Kim.

"Do you think I could try it?" I questioned.

All three girls looked at me shocked.

"You mean you actually want to go up there?" Kim asked softly.

"Yeah, isn't that the point of cliff diving?" I said jokingly.

"If you go Brooke, then I'll go. I've always wanted to try it but these two would never go with me," Rachel said.

Paul shot me a dirty look.

"Somebody's over protective," I muttered.

Paul started to shake but stop when Rachel kissed him lightly.

"Please, Paul. You can jump with me, but I really want to go!" she said, her eyes wide.

"Okay," Paul said, pulling her up.

"Yes!" I exclaimed. "Are you guys coming too?"

"No, Sam and I are going to head home so I can start lunch," Emily said.

I didn't even wait for a response from Jared in Kim, they were too caught up in each other.

As we walked away, Rachel whispered in my ear.

"You learn quickly, young one." She gave a pointed look at Jared and Kim.

After all the excitement of cliff diving, and enjoying the rest of the day with everyone at Sam and Emily's, things started to die down.

The boys all went into the living room while the girls helped Emily clean up.

"I was thinking, Brooke. How about you come over tomorrow to hang out?" Emily said.

"Isn't tomorrow the, you know, big thing?" I said nervously.

"Yeah, but the boys will all be gone, so we should all hang out!" Emily chuckled nervously, acting as though it wasn't that big of a deal.

Rachel walked into the room.

"What's going on tomorrow?" she asked angrily.

Emily's eyes widened.

"Paul!" Rachel screamed.

Paul ran into the room quickly, eyes searching.

"Is there something going on tomorrow I should know about?" she questioned, glaring daggers.

Paul sadly led her into the other room, the house went quiet. When Rachel came out again, she gave me a very dirty look, and slammed the door as she left the house, Paul right behind her.

"What was that about?" I asked.

"Apparently Paul didn't tell her about the fight," Emily said distracted.

"So there is a fight!" I exclaimed.

"I'm just going to stop talking..." Emily left the room quietly.

"Why would Rachel be mad at me because of a fight though?" I asked Kim.

"She never really liked you sister, but she got over it. I guess she's mad again because the fight is kind of about your sister..." Kim said, shrugging.

"Well I have nothing to do with that!" I yelled.

"I know, but Bella does, and you're related to Bella. It's silly, and I'm not mad at you, but Rachel is a lot like Paul- quick tempered," Kim explained.

"Thanks, Kim."

We got back to Jake's house late that night.

"Well, I'm tired. I'm going to hit the sack," Jake said yawning.

"It's like 8 o' clock and you're going to bed?" I laughed.

"Yeah, it's been a long day," Jake said.

"I won't see you tomorrow, Brooke but you're going to Sam and Emily's." he said.

"I'm aware."

"Okay, be safe please, I don't want you to get hurt," Jake whispered.

I got that tingling feeling once again.

"You too, Jake." I attempted a smile.

Softly, he shut the door and I went down the hall to my room.

I lie in my bed for a couple minutes when my ears picked up movement in the hall.

"Be careful, son. Protect your pack and your people, keep you eyes open and don't do anything stupid," Billy said.

"I know, dad. Make sure she get's to Sam and Emily's house okay," Jake replied.

"I've only got two jobs Jake, her and Charlie, I think I can manage. Are you sure it's such a good idea to go out there tonight?" Billy said.

"She'll freeze with just the leech. It'd be pointless to fight if she dies tonight," Jake said.

"Be careful, son."

"Sure, sure."

I could hear shuffling, the door closed and Billy's wheels scraped down the hallway.

Why was Jake leaving? What the hell is a 'leech'?

I would get all of my answers tomorrow night, whether they liked it or not.


	7. Finding

Rolling onto my stomach for the umpteenth time since laying down, I let out a large sigh. I kicked my legs viciously back and forth to free them from the tangle of blankets. I hugged the pillow close to my chest.

"I'm never going to fall asleep at this rate," I whispered to myself.

Ever since that strange meeting between Billy and Jake, ending with Jake leaving the house, my brain was a hurricane of random thoughts and worries. Although I tried, I just couldn't get my eyes to stay closed without picturing Jake wondering through the woods to meet Bella to keep her warm. A strange feeling wormed its way into the pit of my stomach.

_Why does Bella always have to get all of the good guys! No, Brooke stop this. Bella is involved with some kind of fight tomorrow and all you're worrying about is her stealing Jake from you? _

"Ugh!" I muffled a scream into my pillow.

I quickly realized that sitting here was going to get me nowhere, and I was eventually going to become delusional. Swiftly, I rolled myself off of the bed.

"Screw waiting for tomorrow night, I'm getting my answers now," I muttered to myself.

I padded my way to the door. I prayed that this door was not like my old bedroom door- it was near to impossible to sneak out with the constant squeaking of the hinges. Deciding that I could always just say I was going to the bathroom, I opened the door and did a quiet victory dance when it was silent. Walking on my toes I put my head against Billy's bedroom door. A soft snore could be heard through the door so I decided that I was safe when it came to Billy. If he was anything like Charlie, then he wouldn't wake up even if I did make a lot of noise.

My only light was the glow of the oven light from the kitchen at the end of the hall. I'd navigated through worse so I neatly dodged the table that I had conveniently forgotten about at the moment. If I remembered correctly, which I was positive that I did, there was a chest in the living room beside the couch. I was sure that there would be something useful in it since when I was looking through the house earlier and went to approach the chest, Jake dragged me away telling me some lame excuse about wanting to show me the beach. I refrained from sarcastically asking him if he meant the same beach we'd been to earlier that day and decided I could always investigate later- it was now later.

The chest seemed to call to me as I entered the living room silently. Turning my head in all directions, I noted my surroundings. Moonlight barely shone through the small window because of the blizzard outside, but it was enough I concurred. The living room smelt like the rest of the house, and Billy and Jake themselves, pine with a hint of salt although the latter could of just been my own hair from the beach trip. Carpet situated itself between my toes, the rich blue hiding all of the dirt that I knew was nestled in their somewhere. I highly doubted Jake was a vacuum kind of person, although the image of him in an apron while he did vacuum was very entertaining.

Creeping over to the couch I decided that I was safe, and rolled myself right over the back of the couch, landing with a quiet 'oomph' on the soft cushions. I held myself back from laughing, although I really wanted to laugh at my own boredom mixed with stupidity. Really, who just rolls over the top of couches? I smacked my palm into my forehead, and pushed myself to focus at the task on hand. **  
**

I pushed myself up using my elbows and crawled army style over to the arm of the couch. _Here goes nothing, this better be worth it. _I thought to myself.  
The chest itself was obviously Quiluete property. It was made from wood, and looked like an ordinary treasure chest. The only thing that made it stand out was the intricately carved designs. Wolves of different shapes and sizes were etched into the wood at the top, I only noticed this though once I removed the blanket that had been hiding it. Why would somebody want wolves carved into a chest? I mean, I've heard of flowers but wolves? They're not very decorative or festive if you ask me.

A silent drum roll went off in my head. I could feel the back of my neck get cold, something that always happened when I got nervous. I'm quite positive that their wouldn't be any decapitated heads or dead bodies shoved in their, but the scenarios still played in my head thanks to an unhealthy obsession with Criminal Minds. My hand shakily reached for the top of the chest. At this point, I was now sitting on the floor in front of it. Apparently my body had moved me closer to the chest without me even realizing it.

I took a deep, soothing breath and opened the chest. Wow, it's a bunch of books.

Great job, Brooke. You made such a big deal over a bookshelf. Go figure.

I was officially giving up on finding anything useful in this house when a title caught my eye.

_**Quiluete Legends **_was written in plain black ink across the cover of what seemed to be an ordinary book. What intrigued me was that it looked ancient, like an artifact. Both the front and back cover were leather, and bound only by strings of leather... at least I assumed it was leather. I contemplated just leaving it there and trying to get back to sleep anyways, but then I figured maybe some boring old legends would lull me to sleep.

I snatched up the book, closed the chest, and lightly jogged back to my room. Just to make sure, before I went into my room, I opened Jake's bedroom door and peeked in. Sure enough, the bed was empty.

"Stupid know-it-all secret keepers," I grumbled under my breath, and closed the door.

I entered my own room and set the book down on the desk. I straightened out the blankets, fluffed up my pillows and grabbed the book before laying down on the bed. Once I was situated, I set the book on my lap and began to read.

What I had assumed to be boring old legends turned out to be one of the greatest reads of my life, and I read a lot. The legends talked of male descendants turning into wolves, shape shifters. Not only that, but at the end of the book it started to name specific people. Uley, Black and Ateara were notable names that I recognized. As I read on I discovered that these 'wolves' had made a treaty with the cold ones- vampires, and Carlisle Cullen was the man who initiated the treaty that- whoa WHAT?

_Ephraim Black was approached by Carlisle Cullen, who stated that they were different. The colour of their eyes- a cool yellow- was proof that they stuck to a diet of animals opposed to that of humans. I treaty was drawn up between the Cullen family: they are prohibited to be on the La Push reservation at all times, they may not kill or BITE another human. They are never to tell the secret of the shape shifters. If any of these conditions are broken, the treaty is void. _

Holy hell muffins. Cullen was the last name of Bella's boyfriend, the one with the yellow eyes (I thought of them more as an amber myself). It had to be the same Cullen family, they matched the description of the cold ones written in this book, plus I'm positive that Bella told me his father's name was Carlisle. Wolves, honest to god men that could turn into wolves. Jake's great-grandfather was one of them, one look at his family tree told me that. Perhaps that would explain why all of those boys, and Leah, were extremely hot -in both senses- and why they were so secretive. Why they hated the Cullen's, they were mortal enemies, why they ate so much, why they started shaking when provoked, and why they were so confident that they could help the Cullen's defeat whatever thing they were fighting against tomorrow. The pieces were all clicking into place now.

What the heck kind of place is Forks? Vampires and werewolves? Better yet, what the hell was Bella doing dating a vampire? It did say that they were vegetarian though... I was positive that Bella already knew everything that I had stumbled upon tonight. It was why she was always so damn secretive and fidgety. I would be too if my boyfriend could possible suck my blood at any given moment. What had Bella gotten herself into?

Was it possibly more vampires that were coming tomorrow? Why would they be coming for Bella though? It was true that most of my questions were answered that night, but there were still many more that begged to be answered too.

I read the book from front to back to make sure that I didn't miss anything. By the time I was done, there was only a few more hours until I had to be up to get ready to go to Sam and Emily's. Thankfully I was still coherent, and ran into the living room, placed the book back in the chest, and ran back to my bed once again. Even if Billy woke up now, he wouldn't know I had the book. He had to know about the legends, that must have been why Jake left last night, wolf stuff. I smiled brightly to myself, glad that I was 'in the know' now.

I rolled onto my side as I glanced out the window. Sleep was now inevitable and I gladly gave into the urge to close my eyes. My dreams were filled with what I once that were mythical beings.

If only I could have known that it would be my last peaceful dream for quite a while. Sometimes, God will give you a 'heads up' when something bad is coming your way, or when you're about to go through a drastic change. Something as simple as a bad feeling in the pit of your stomach, or a dreary torrential downpour with ominous dark clouds. Unfortunately, this was not one of those times.

Nope, what happened the next day was the last thing I had ever expected. Somewhere up there, somebody's getting a damn good laugh.


	8. Burning

Half Blind and Paralysed

When Happiness Doesn't Work

It was time. The only reason that I knew that this "battle" had started was because all of the girls became fidgety. Emily, nervously began to pace the kitchen floor, wringing a cloth in her hands after hearing an eerie howling. I wasn't sure what kind of signal that was, but it had to be bad. Now that I was in on this little secret I was a little more understanding as to why everyone else was nervous, there 'imprints' were fighting out there too I guess. I'm not one for tension, so of course, I tried to distract myself- bad idea.

"Anybody up for a game of cards?" I flashed a deck of cards up in the air, chuckling nervously.

I was a little upset when the only response I received was a few murderous glares, courtesy of Rachel, Kim, and even little Claire.

"Girls, go easy on her. She doesn't understand what's happening and we're all a little nervous right now," Emily instructed. She then proved her theory by pointing out all of our nervous tendencies: Rachel biting her nails, Kim biting the insides of her cheek, myself twirling my ring around my finger, and herself wringing a dish cloth repeatedly.

"I'm sorry, Brooke. This has to be hard on you too I suppose," Kim mumbled.

"Yeah, it is. I mean, at least you guys know the whole story..." I grunted, crossing my arms over my chest.

"What do you mean the _'whole'_ story?" Kim asked, raising an eyebrow.

Lucky for me, Rachel intervened as though Kim hadn't spoken at all.

"Well it's your sister's fault anyway. Our men wouldn't even be fighting if Bella would've just stopped leading on my brother. We all know that she'll end up with Edward, yet Jake still puts his life, and now others, on the line for her!" Rachel sneered.

I was speechless. Emily quickly removed Claire from the room, carrying her into the living room. Kim. her mouth hanging open a little bit, was staring at Rachel in shock.

"I'm going for a walk," I grunted.

"That's not the best idea, Brooke. We...we're suppose to stay in the house," Kim objected.

"Let her go," Rachel argued, pushing her chair back rudely, and storming out of the room.

I muttered out a curt apology to Kim, and bolted out the door. They didn't want me there, that much was clear. Why would Bella leave me with people that apparently hated her? It's not like there were any wolves around to protect me, they were all fighting apparently. I didn't care what was happening, I refused to sit there and listen to Rachel insult my family. I understood that Jake had feelings for my sister, and we were good friends too, but why would he risk his life for her? Was it a werewolf thing?

"Oh God, Bella. What have you gotten yourself into?" I questioned myself, looking up at the sky.

"Bella? Hm, just the girl we've been searching for," sneered a cold voice.

I immediately looked up in fear. What I saw was a nightmare. They weren't human, that was obvious. There were three ghastly pale figures standing in a loose, semi-circle around me. All three had eerie red eyes that were carefully examining me. My brain became a thick fog, I couldn't see any thoughts in my head. Then, out of nowhere, one word popped into my head: _Vampire. _And of course they weren't the good ones.

"Oh! Riley will be so proud of us! This is the human that we came for, for sure!" one of the figures cried.

I briefly examined the three figures, attempting calculate my chances of escaping.

All three were dressed in old, worn out clothes. The one that had first spoken out, was a tall man, with broad shoulders. He was dressed in a pair of ripped, brown khaki shorts, and a blue wife beater tank. His curly, black hair was trimmed just above his red eyes, and he kind of reminded me of Edward in an odd way. Actually, all three did.

The second man, who spoke of 'Riley' stepped forward, closer to me. I noticed then that he wore a pair of loose, black jeans that rode quite low on his hips. His navy green shirt, not quite meeting his pants, was missing its right sleeve. Long, blonde hair was pulled out of his face by a black bandana.

"I don't know who you are, but I don't know any Riley. Yo-you m-must have me mistaken for some b-body else," I stammered.

"Quiet now, girl. You're scent is the same as the human we search for. Moments ago, you spoke to yourself using her name. You will come with us to show Riley our prize. He will be so proud," the third figure, a female, bellowed.

She was dressed in, what I assumed, used to be a pure, white sun dress. The dress still reached her knees, although now it was stained by various patches of brown and green all over it. Her hair reminded me of Bella's, the way it almost had a red tint to it when she jerked her head quickly to one side. The long, brown locks of her hair flowed down to her mid back, and swung in every direction when she made any sudden movement, which she did quite a lot.

"My name's not Bella, it's Brooke!" I cried.

"Hush, you cannot fool us silly human. A scent doesn't lie, you also match the description we were given. I could never forget you're mouthwatering scent," she taunted.

"Julianne, stop fooling around with her and let's go! You know that Jack was the worst one with his control," the second figure, with the long, blonde hair, spoke.

"Harold, I will do whatever I please. Do not forget that we never would have never escaped that stupid battle if not for the fact that I hid our scents," the female, Julianne, argued. "Jack, are you in control?" She directed this question towards the first male.

"For now. Make sure you hide her scent, I don't want to have to share her with the others," Jack replied.

"Of course my dear. Let's find Riley so we can have her already," Julianne ordered.

Harold quickly made a grab for me, and my attempts of escape all went down the drain. I was hopeless once I saw the speed at which he moved. Maybe they should have put that in bold print in the legend book, **CAUTION: TRAVEL AT EXTREMLY HIGH SPEEDS. **

"Before you kill me, just tell me one thing," I begged.

"Make it quick, girl," Julianne urged.

"Why are you here?" I asked timidly.

"As if you don't know already know. We aren't easily fooled, your stupid innocent act won't work on us..." Julianne sneered. "...you have those foul smelling dogs, and a coven of gold eyed vampires attempting to defend you as we speak silly human," she continued.

"B-but why are you all here after Be-me again?" I continued.

"Well if you asked Riley, he'd say that it's because the gold-eyes are evil, but Harold can see peoples pasts and we really know that it's because your mate killed Victoria, our real leader's, mate James. It's an eye for an eye, and whoever found you first gets to keep you. Either way, James is dead, you're dead, revenge is complete."

My mate? But she thinks I'm Bella...so she must be talking about Edward. Edward killed this Victoria's 'mate' and so she created a huge ass army to kill Bella, a human? Wow, obviously she has a lot of built up frustration. We were travelling at a neck breaking speed through the woods. I didn't know where we were heading, but I was scared to death. We stopped abruptly, Harold drooping me to the ground.

"I thought you were hiding our scents!" Harold cried out.

"I was too busy hiding the humans to hide all of ours, you try controlling yourself and hiding everybody's scent at once!" Julianne argued back.

"Well keep hiding the girl's scent! I'll go hide her over here, they can't know we have her, or they'll take her from us!" Jack commanded.

Jack was suddenly in front of me.

"Oh, but you smell so good!" he yelled in frustration, pulling at his hair.

"They won't have to know," Jack mumbled to himself, moving closer to me.

"Please! No!" I screamed, thrashing my arms and legs around.

My screams went unnoticed by the now preoccupied Harold and Julianne. In the distance, I could clearly see them fighting... huge bears? No, they were wolves! If only I could scream loud enough to get their attention, they would save me, right? My train of thought was interrupted by a searing pain in my neck. I looked up only to be met with the side of Jack's face, his mouth now attached to the side of my neck.

Trying once again to save myself, I screamed as loud as I could. This seemed to catch one of the wolves attention. He howled out, and sprung forward in a leap towards me. Please! I cried out in my head.

Death is painful, why is death so painful? My mother always said that it would be peaceful, and that the angels come down and escort you to heaven. Well were the hell were my angels now?

The largest wolf, who was all black, tackled Jack, sending me rolling into the bushes with the action. I screamed out in pain again, but not from the bushes. I lifted my head as much as I could, in an attempt to search for the fire that was consuming my body, but was met with nothing. It burnt! It burnt oh so bad. I couldn't scream though, or else those monsters would find me again and finish me off. After thinking about it though, death might be better than this pain. No, I had to do this for Bella. She would be so upset if I died, and she would blame herself, I knew she would.

So I quietly endured the spreading pain. In an effort to distract myself, I watched the fight take place before me. There were three huge wolves. One was all black, the biggest. The other, had a smaller frame but seemed to be the fastest, it was all grey. The last, was a russet brown, almost as large, if not larger, than the all black one. All three were concentrating on fighting the three vampires. I hoped that they could handle them, Rachel already hated me enough as is and one of them could be Paul. Or Jake, or Seth...

Jack made a run for it into the woods, Julianne, and Harold quickly using the distraction to bolt after him. The wolves did not hesitate and followed hot on their trail. I could barely see the fight now. Quite a few trees blocked my view. I did see Jack climb the tree. I wished that I could have warned the small grey wolf that she was about to be crushed, as Jack went to wrap his arms around her. Suddenly, the russet brown one appeared out of no where, pushing the small grey one aside, and taking the hit for her. I cried with the wolf, I knew how much pain he was in, I was in the same amount if not more at the moment. Distracted by the wolf's howling, the grey wolf quickly ripped Jack to shreds, turning on Harold and giving him the same fate. Julianne seemed to surrender, as she stood still while the black one tore her to shreds too.

I couldn't watch anymore, the pain was getting worse. The fire burning brighter. I knew now that death was coming. There was no way that God would allow someone to be put through all of this pain, and not be met with death soon. I silently prayed to any God that would listen, as silent tears streamed down my face.


	9. Awaking

We swicth POV quite a few times her ladies & gents, sorry about that. Also sorry about deleting the story and re posting it. **Sadly enough, all of your beautiful reviews were deleted to although I still appreciate every single one of them**! Hope you enjoy!

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**Brooke POV**

Darkness- it surrounded me, it swallowed me whole. Yet no matter tightly I clenched my eyes shut the bright bursts of colourful pain seared me to the core. I silently counted the minutes that ticked by, seeing as my thoughts were possibly the only pain free thing to do at the moment, and even then it still hurt.

The light was too much to bear, and so my eyes stayed glued shut, everything was so painful. Every pore in my body emanated pain and no matter how hard I thought of ice and winter the burning rampage captured me as a whole. What kind of monster was I to have to go through all of this?

**Alice POV**

The fight ended quickly enough, and I mentally took note of my family still standing unitedly, albeit a bit grumpy (Rose got a few bites and Emmett was upset about his low body count). Skipping over to Jasper, I laid a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to relax his rigid stance above the young newborn who surrendered. My eyes glaze over and I willingly fall into a vision...

_The cloud cover has moved over and the snow has been ploughed around. The young newborn's eyes snap to a new arrival. Bella and Edward enter the field, Bella unconscious on Edward's back. _

"_What's wrong?" Esme cries. _

"_I told her about, Jake. She demanded to know and I thought- is she going to be okay?" He asks at a speed almost to quickly for me to decipher. _

"_She's fine it's only shock she should be up soon," Carlisle replies as he examines her._

"Alice said some of the guard will be arriving in five minutes so we have to get the wolves out of here, tell them to take Jake to his house and I will be along shortly," Carlisle tells Edward.

My eyes snap back to current time and I inform everyone about what's about to take place. Almost moments after, I feel that familiar feeling overtake me once again...

_The ground is torn up, it's obvious that part of the battle had escaped into this area- perhaps this is where Jake, Sam and Leah were? I'm surrounded by tall trees that cover what I'm looking for. _

"_She's here, Esme we have to get to here before it's too late!" I cry. _

"_There's no scent over here..." she mumbles while continuing to search. "Oh! Over here! I found her... oh no, Alice, oh no!" Esme yells. _

_I quickly sprint over to the large patch of bushes Esme is standing in, Brooke's scent oddly picking up in the middle of the brush. _

_I see a sight I was dreading, a fresh wound swollen and red on her neck, and a whimpering girl in the fetal position. _

"_I've seen it already, she's too weak to make it through the transformation- I see us all crying at her funeral," I say sadly. _

"_Well what can we do for her? There must be another option, Alice!" Esme sobs while attempting to soothe the poor girl. _

"_Well... I can't see her future if we try to suck the venom out but if we do it right now, I don't see us mourning...Maybe the wolves get involved?" I say. _

"_It's our only option, Alice why don't you run for Carlisle tell him it's urgent, I'll take care of her." _

"_Are you sure, Esme?" I ask, already halfway across the small meadow. _

"_Go," she whispers although I barely hear it. _

"No!" I yell, falling to the ground in a sad attempt to sort my thoughts.

"Alice, what's wrong?" Jasper asks while sending me calm feelings to replace the fact he won't leave his position on guard.

"I have to go, Esme come with me, the rest of you stay here!" I yell exasperatedly while grabbing at Esme on my way by.

"Esme, we've got a situation."

**Brooke POV**

"Oh! Over here! I found her... oh no, Alice, oh no!" a voice yells.

The shock of hearing another voice so close makes me jump and I practically lose consciousness from the throbs of pain that rewarded me for my stupidity.

"Go," the voice whispers before putting a cool hand to what I can only assume is my aching head.

"I'm going to help you sweetheart, I'm sorry it had to be this way though." She soothes, her voice like a lullaby to me.

A sharp pain, much like the previous bite, is placed on my neck but it almost feels good compared to the sharp jabs my body was already going through.

And just like that the pain starts to leave...until it comes back again. It wasn't as strong, but it was still painful enough for me to return to my previous position.

"Thank you," I croak in a voice that sounds nothing like myself.

"I...I tried...I'm so, so sorry," says the voice.

The pain has receded enough that I feel as though putting my body into lock down and hibernating until it's over is a good decision for me to make.

**Bella POV**

It's been a day and a half, long enough for Charlie to have called six times and demand to speak with Brooke although I continue to tell him that she's in the bathroom, or outside with Alice. Carlisle told me that Esme tried to suck the venom from her system, much like Edward had done with me, but that the venom was simply to far into her blood stream and that all we could do now was try to make her comfortable.

Esme's been a wreck since they brought her back, screaming from being carried all the way to the Cullen home. Of course she blames herself, although I've told her numerous times that it would all work out okay.

I felt Edward's arms tighten slightly around me, but enough for me to notice that something was going on. From my perch beside Edward, hugging a pillow to my chest in the middle of his new bed I turned to face him.

"Wh-What's wrong? Is it Brooke?" I asked quietly, while trying to manoeuvre my way out of his arms so that I could reach her.

"Love, she's woken up. Come on, we have to go now." He swooped me up and leaped out the window.

"Close your eyes," he told me.

"No! Tell me what's happening! Brooke needs me, Edward! Take me back right now or you will regret it!" I screamed manically while pounding my arms against his solid chest.

"Bella, love, you don't understand I don't know why she's awoken this early, and I can't read her thoughts clearly right now but I know she's waking up. Carlisle was with her, we don't know whether or not she'll be a vampire or..." he said.

"Or, or what?" I cried.

"I don't know..." he said sadly.

"Edward please take me back, please. She's my sister and she needs me, she doesn't know any of you! You guys can protect me if anything goes wrong but please!" I begged.

I was about to beg and even cry loudly if I needed to but I could see we were already back at the house.

"How did we-?" I began to ask.

"I started turning back the minute you said please," he told me, sighing.

We entered the house, where Emmett, Jasper, Esme, Alice, and grudgingly, Rose quickly surrounded me as we mounted the stairs to where my sister was now awaking.

**Brooke POV**

The pain left, and I felt normal- almost. I could hear distinct sounds of people mounting stairs, of cars passing the highway miles out, sounds I certainly should not be hearing. I opened my eyes and gasped at the clarity of everything.

Dust drifted lightly in the air, and I almost felt dirty breathing it in. Grains ran along the walls, and intricate patterns could be seen in the ceiling tiles above me. Silently I reached up to my face and felt smooth, clear skin...and no glasses like I was expecting.

A cough echoed and suddenly it was all too much.

I wonder what she's doing?

Wow, she's a lot prettier now, not that she was before...

Well I certainly didn't see this coming

Oh thank goodness she's okay!

Odd, her skin is only slightly paler and her heart beats, but too fast for an average human.

She can read minds too? Brooke do you hear me?

I nodded my head along with my arms, only because my hands were attached to my ears to try to block out the sounds...block them out! I felt a bubble form around their thoughts and suddenly, it was quiet.

"Brooke, how did you do that?" Edward stepped forward, as I took a step back. He raised his hands in a surrender and suddenly it all clicked.

"I'm a vampire?" I asked, my voice sounding a little smoother.

"Not quite, we... well we think that you might be a hybrid. It seems as though blood still flows through you along with venom and your heartbeat, it beats incredibly fast," he explained.

"Did you just ask if you were a vampire?" Bella blurted.

I shot a quick look in her direction and made a move towards her. I was so happy to see her! She was okay!

In a movement incredibly fast, but easy enough for me to detect four vampires were on top of me.

"What are you doing, you could kill her or break all of her bones!" Bella cried from across the room.

"I can't hear her thoughts at the moment, Bella she's blocking me."

I popped the bubble that had previously created a barrier between my mind and theirs and winced slightly from the thoughts again.

She was going to attack her own sister!

Well she must have an appeal to blood so...

That was a close call.

Edward if you can hear me, I was only going to hug her... why would I want blood, ew!

Edward glance curiously at me from his position above me.

"Guys, get up she only wanted to hug her. Apparently she said blood is 'ew'," Edward said, barely suppressing a smile.

The guys leaped off of me and looked apologetically ashamed.

_'Well she must be good if I didn't crush her!' _Thought the buff, big guy I believe they called Emmett.

"Yeah, I'm good," I replied out loud to him.

Everyone shot me surprisingly confused looks and the blond haired father, Carlisle stepped forward.

"Brooke, can you read our minds?" he enquired.

"Well, yes."

"Interesting, it seems we've got quite a unique hybrid on our hands, Brooke," he said, smiling.

"Hybrid, what's that?" Bella asked.

"Well, Bella-" Carlisle turned so we could both see his face "-Brooke here seems to be half human, half vampire."

"I'm what?"


	10. Accepting

Last Chance Review: **Jake** or **Seth?**

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"I'm sorry Carlisle but I seem to have misunderstood what you just said, could you please repeat that?" Bella said calmly.

"Love, he said that Brooke seems to be half-vampire half human, also known as a hybrid," Edward clarified.

"Maybe I should have read more of that damn book..." I muttered.

"What do you mean, Brooke?" Edward questioned.

I popped the imaginary bubble from my head and thought about all of the events that led up to this moment.

Edward watched me intently and finally, turned to Bella.

"Maybe we should go somewhere for a little while, love. This is a lot to take in at once," he said.

_The wolves won't be happy with this at all, they'll consider her an unreliable threat _Edward thought.

"Well they'll just have to deal with it won't they! Sorry if I'm too much of a bother for you and your precious family, Edward!" I scoffed while crossing my arms over my chest.

I started to stomp out of the room when the window along the far wall caught my attention. I immediately froze up and glared at the reflection glaring right back at me from the glass.

She was beautiful, so beautiful that it burned my eyes just to look at her. She held all of the same features as me, except they were now sharp and angular, chiseled to perfection. Mahogany hair fell in waves that curled in at the ends and framed the pale heart-shaped face. Prominent cheekbones now held a pinkish tint to them, and the wide forehead that was once freckled with bumps of acne was now smooth like porcelain- a porcelain doll, that's what she looked like. Eyebrows arched like a small rainbow shone the same brilliant colour as her hair but seemed so much darker in contrast to the bright blue eyes that shone with confusion and anger.

Like a young child coming across a mirror for the first time, I stepped forward and lifted a hand to reach out to this girl, this girl that was a picture of what my plain features could look like. My hand touched the cool glass and met the other hand from the girl who stood in a mirror position.

"It's me..." I gasped. The reflected girl's mouth dropped open an stared back at me inquisitively and shocked.

"Edward! You said I would get to show her first ,why didn't you tell me!" The pixie whined and stomped her foot.

"Alice you're acting like a three year old, I don't think now is the time for that," Edward replied with a glare.

Alice huffed but ran over to my side anyways.

"You're gorgeous! You're even giving Rose a run for her money!" Alice cheered.

My head snapped towards the blonde haired beauty who was staring disdainfully in my direction and I scoffed.

"As if," I said and looked sadly back at my reflection.

Rose glared at the floor before stepping forward and resting a hand on my shoulder.

"No she's right," she said, and a small smile tilted the corner of her lips upward.

Everyone in the room looked shocked, no flabbergasted as they looked at Rose's hand resting on my shoulder.

"Rosie, baby are you all right?" The muscular giant stepped forward.

"Emmett I'm perfectly fine," Rose snapped, and the moment was gone.

"Rose?" I asked timidly.

Without moving her body, she turned her head back to look at me.

"Thank you," I said.

She nodded her head and walked back over to stand beside Emmett.

I looked towards the door again, before stepping back towards the family once again.

"I'm sorry, I may have just over-reacted a little bit there..." My eyes followed the pattern of tiles on the floor.

"No, darling it was perfectly acceptable if not a bit of an under-reaction considering the circumstances," the woman holding Carlisle's hand said.

I squirmed with all of the eyes on me, I wasn't comfortable with these people and all of the attention was really bothering me.

"Jasper?" Carlisle could sense my distress and gave the intimidating blonde a meaningful glance in my direction.

The uncomfortable feeling was replaced by comfort and love. I figured that this Jasper was using his power so I shot him a smile to show him I was grateful for his help, he nodded in reply.

The family sat me down then, and explained to me everything I needed to know in detail. The history of vampires, the Volturi, the treaty with the wolves, everything about Edward and Bella, and all of their stories about how they ended up here, powers included.

Two hours later I sat curled up on a leather couch, hugging myself closely. Carlisle has stepped out to join Edward and Bella saying that there was 'business' that had to be attended to.

Esme had gone outside to work on the flowers although god knows they were already blooming beautifully, Emmett and Rosalie were locked up in their room, and Alice was shopping for me online on the couch across from me. They didn't want me out in public until things got sorted out, already I had decided that we could tell Charlie that Alice took me to a professional for a makeover and he would probably buy it. After all, all of my features were the same simply sharpened and more defined. It was believable enough they all agreed.

Jasper swept into the room, a book in his hand and sat down beside me rather than Alice. I looked up at him, completely shocked.

He began to read the pages of his book, flipping through them at a surprisingly slow pace for a vampire.

"The lighting is better over here, don't seem so shocked by my decision to sit here," he said without looking up from his book.

"But you're a vampire, the lighting doesn't matter to you?" I meant to state, but it came out as a question.

Alice's head peeked over the top of the laptop and she nodded at Jasper with an eager look on her face, when she saw me looking though she quickly went back to the screen.

Jasper sighed and set the book on the coffee table in front of the couch.

"Well to be perfectly honest with you, your scent is still human but it doesn't call to me. I find it...relaxing and reassuring although if it makes you uncomfortable I understand," he admitted looking somewhat nervous.

"Oh, is that all? Well that's okay then, I was just worried because you weren't sitting near Alice," I reassured him.

He smiled gratefully at me and once again picked up his book.

Since everybody else was occupied, and trying to give me time to 'adjust' to my new body and abilities I decided now would be the perfect time to work on what Carlisle deemed 'my ability'.

It seemed simple enough, I could feel the elasticity of my so called 'shield'. It reminded me a lot of a blanket. I simply imagined myself whipping the blanket into the air and letting it land gently on top of my brain, then smoothing out the wrinkles until my mind was completely encompassed. When I had the blanket over top, I couldn't hear the thoughts of others and if I were to take it off then I would hear all of the voices. I took the blanket off and was not disappointed when thoughts drifted throughout my mind like a crowded mall: I could hear a lot of voices speaking and when I focused on just one, I could distinguish what it is they were thinking.

I focused on Alice, I focused on Alice very intently and was shocked when all of the other voices in my head faded and all I could hear was Alice. But not just her current thoughts, all of her thoughts. It was like I was seeing a huge filing cabinet, with various parts of her life labelled. I pulled out all of the thoughts about Jasper and decided to experiment. I found the blanket resting beneath the surface in Alice's mind, I pulled it out and wrapped it tightly around all thoughts of Jasper.

Alice's head snapped up once more and looked directly at Jasper the minute I was completed.

"Who are you?" she questioned.

Jasper's eyes darted to Alice's face and he dropped the book as he moved forward.

"Alice, darling what are you talking about?" he asked.

"Brooke, who is this man and how does he know my name?" she demanded of me looking frightened.

I decided I'd had enough of this game and pulled the blanket off of those thoughts, re-filing all of her thoughts of Jasper.

"Alice, please tell me you're kidding," Jasper pleaded.

"What? I...I'm not sure what happened." Alice looked questioningly around the room.

"I think it was me," I mumbled, unsure of how they would react.

"What do you mean?" Jasper asked.

"Well, I was just playing around with my...ability and I put all of Alice's thoughts about Jasper inside of what I refer to as 'the blanket'. It's the same blanket that I use to stop me from hearing your thoughts," I explained.

"You mean, you could see all of Alice's thoughts? Not just her current ones?" asked Jasper.

"Well, yeah I suppose so. It was like... I could see everything she ever thought if I focused on her hard enough and then I just blocked those certain thoughts out and she forgot you," I replied.

"It seems as though you're ability is a lot more diverse than we previously expected," Jasper stated.

"Yes! I can see Eleazar explaining her ability to Carlisle, although I still can't see her..."Alice mumbled.

"Alice? Could you please share?" I said.

"Right, well Brooke here has a shield but it's more than that I guess... She has the ability to block thoughts from your head. But I guess in order to be able to do that she needed to be able to read all of your thoughts, including current ones and so it's kind of like a two for one deal. It could be extremely dangerous though considering she could make someone forget who they were, or forget everything all together and it could be permanent. That's what Eleazar says when you meet him anyways. Oh! And then Carlisle has a theory that you technically have two powers because your human part had the shield, like Bella has a shield right now, and that the vampire side of you developed the whole mind reading thing," she babbled.

Finally I lifted my hand, the universal symbol for stop talking.

"I already know I have these things, I guess you just explained it in a way that it makes sense to everyone hopefully. Also, I think Carlisle's theory makes sense because Edward said he has difficulty reading my mind," I pointed out.

"I didn't think it was possible for someone to have two different abilities, I have never heard tell of it before," Jasper argued.

"Yes, well I didn't think it was impossible for vampires and werewolves to exist either but I faced a harsh reality too," I objected.

Jasper thought about that for a few seconds while Alice started bouncing on the spot looking giddy.

"I suppose you have a point there, Brooke," he agreed.

"Yay! I have a unique new best-friend that can show up Edward!" she cried.

I coughed into my hand and looked at Jasper for help. He took the hint thankfully.

"Darling, why don't we go upstairs for a little while and leave Brooke alone to let all of this settle in," he suggested.

I fought to keep the grimace from the suggestive meaning.

"Oh right! I forgot, you might want to get some rest Charlie still thinks you're staying over here. Silly me! You're still half human!" Alice giggled.

Her and Jasper ran up the stairs and I could hear their door close with a resounding click.

A plopped back down onto the couch and placed my head in my hands. Would I ever get the chance to be normal again? Probably not... But on the bright side, Charlie probably wouldn't mention my change. I could tell him I got a makeover and also that I was a growing girl going through puberty... he would believe it. Besides, we hadn't really hung out that much since I'd arrived here with all of the commotion and what not so he hadn't really looked at me that much I could always play it off like it's nothing.

I could definitely feel a headache coming on, a slight throbbing in my right temple but it was nothing I couldn't handle.

The front door slammed off of the wall and Edward stormed in with Carlisle right behind him. Edward snatched me up and ran up the stairs with me as Carlisle started hitting buttons that caused metal blinds to fall in front of all the windows and doors.

"What in the world is going on!" I screamed.

Edward set me down in Carlisle's office where everyone else quickly ran in.

"The wolves...Carlisle explained to them what had happened to you and we explained that we don't know exactly how the venom had affected her," Edward spat out.

"And...?" Rose gestured for him to continue explaining why we were all in lock down.

"And they want to destroy the threat, we told them that we had no part in transforming her but they wouldn't listen! They consider the treaty violated and Brooke an unknown threat, they're on their way to remove us all." Edward moved his fingers to rest on the bridge of his nose as his eyes scrunched up in concentration.

"Where's Bella?" I enquired nervously.

"At your house locked up with Charlie. I won't let her be taken down with us," Edward explained with a sigh.

"That's probably for the best," I agreed.

"So what are we going to do then?" Emmett asked, glancing around the room.

"We're going to try and stop them to explain everything properly," Carlisle answered.

"And if that doesn't work?" Jasper questioned.

"Then we fight," Edward stated.

The throbbing that started in my right temple quickly grew to a construction crew pounding away at my cranium.

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**Let me know what you think! **


	11. Imprinting

**I'm backkkk! **I went through something extremely difficult these past few months, and had pulled myself away from everything I ever enjoyed doing. It's all good now, I've gotten help and I'm back and, hopefully better, than ever!** Your reviews and support could never mean more to me now so please, let me know there's still some of you out there! **

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The room became tense, it seemed as though everyone had withdrawn from the present and instead found some sort of comfort in their own thoughts. No one spoke, or even suggested that this probably wouldn't be happening yet I still found myself harbouring the blame for what was about to take place.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, my eyes tracing the grainy lines of the hardwood flooring.

"Brooke, you are one of us now. Venom or not, you are still a living being and you're our family. We always protect our family." Carlisle walked towards me, and rested his hand lightly on my chin, forcing me to stare directly into his warm toffee eyes.

"This wouldn't be happening if I would've simply done what I was told and stayed with Emily." I was attempting to argue but my voice was so pathetically quiet that it came out in a gentle tone.

"Sweetheart, there are so many what ifs in the world, that if you were to question them all you would waste your whole life wondering. The best we can do is live with what happens and make the best out of what we have," Esme said, pulling me into a hug.

"We need something that will make them stop, listen to reason," Edward said from his position on the stairway, his eyes closed and his fingers gently massaging his temples.

"We need to surprise them," Jasper answered.

Out of everyone here, Jasper had the most experience when it came to confrontation so of course, his input meant the most.

"I need to speak to them-" I voiced, but was abruptly cut off by seven different versions of 'No!'.

"Hear her out," Edward said.

I glanced quickly around the room, Emmett holding Rose tightly in his arms, Alice delicately laid across Jasper's lap at the bottom of the stairway, where Edward was seated just a few steps above them. Esme and Carlisle grasping each others hands like a life line just a few feet to my right. I was going to get them out of this mess no matter what.

Once I was satisfied that I would not be interrupted again I started to explain my idea.

"They know me, or well... they did. They're going to be shocked by my appearance, and to be perfectly honest they are my friends. I don't believe they will be able to destroy me if they understand that I'm still me, I'm still the Brooke they all were helping to protect just a few days ago," I said.

"But we can't just let you stand out there unprotected," Jasper argued, allowing his concern to flow throughout the room.

"Don't worry, Jasper. I still expect all of you to stand behind me, but in order for them to get the full affect they're going to have to see all of me when they first break through that clearing. It's the only way." I started to walk towards the door, brushing the invisible dust off of my dress as I went.

"Hell yes! Let's do this!" Emmett cried, pumping his fist into the air.

"It's the best option, Carlisle," Edward reasoned, rising from his position on the stairs to join me.

Everyone was silent once more as we waited to get the 'green light' from Carlisle.

He glanced at Esme, and then slowly his allowed his eyes to tour the room and examine each and everyone of us. Just seconds later, a solemn look passed his face and he cautiously nodded his head.

"We don't move to fight unless they don't stop," he stated. We all nodded in agreement and moved towards the door as one, while Esme lifted the metal barriers that once kept us safe.

I pulled open the front door and walked until my feet made the soft 'crunch' that notified me that I'd met the gravel driveway.

"If they don't stop, Brooke, then you make a run for it," Edward whispered so only I could hear.

"I will not abandon you. If you guys are going down because of me, then I will be going down with you," I said in a normal tone, reassuring the Cullen's of my commitment to protecting them as well.

As I stood just paces in front of them, I could feel my tender heart pounding at an even quicker pace than usual. I found my finger twisting the ring that sat on my middle finger of my right hand continuously, Bella had given it to me for my Eleventh Birthday.

I recalled Renee going on a rant once about picturing yourself in your happy place when you were down. So, in my mind I wasn't standing in front of the Cullen house about to fight for both my life and theirs. No, I was on the beach in La Push surprisingly surrounded by those that were at the moment on their way to end my life. The sun made my skin tingle as it's light covered my skin. The sand, coarse and rough underneath of my palms. I could taste the salt in the air and the soothing rush of waves as they coasted to shore surrounded me. Jake would grab my hand and pull me towards the water, while I fought him the whole way there laughing gleefully. The boys would be laughing in the background, encouraging him while the girls giggled from somewhere beyond my sight. Just before my feet would meet the water, he would pull me into his arms and for just a moment everything in the world would be right again. Everything around me would be painfully perfect and I would find my skin getting warm not because of the sun, but sprouting from somewhere inside of me.

"They're here," Alice said in a low voice.

Instantly my eyes shot open, and I wiped away all traces of what could never be. Cold shots of adrenaline pulsed throughout my body and I forced my eyes to look straight ahead, so that they would hopefully lock with the eyes of one of the wolves.

I was not disappointed, a russet wolf was the first one through the thick grass. His eyes boring straight into mine.

_He's not going to stop, _I thought to myself. My body tensed, and my arms shot up in front of me in a defensive barrier.

My eyes and teeth clenched simultaneously and I braced myself for impact. Yet instead of the ferocious growl I was expecting to hear, it was a sad whimper and the sounds of multiple paws sliding through the gravel due to an unexpected stop.

I heard Edward sigh in relief, and I lowered my arms slowly while opening my eyes.

Just steps away from me stood the russet wolf I had watched charge for me. Yet now, he stood frozen, his body lowered to the ground and if I was not mistaken he looked like someone had just told him his cat died. Behind him, stood a line of wolves much larger than I had expected. They on the other hand, looked dumbfounded... and a little shocked?

"Please," I whispered, my voice breaking from my attempt to hold back my tears. "Please... don't hurt them. They had nothing to do with- with this-" I waved my hands up and down my body "-if anything, the only thing they're guilty of is helping me when I needed it the most. I know every single one of you, and I understand that it is your duty to protect your people from the unknown, making it your job destroy me because, well I'm probably the most mysterious creation out here yet. I beg you though, if you're going to destroy me please, please leave the Cullens out of it. I will go in peace if that's what it takes."

I could hear Esme whimpering in the background, Carlisle's soft voice gently soothing her. I could literally feel Jasper's presence behind me- he had definitely moved closer. Emmett and Rose were silent, but I could only imaging they were still tensed for a fight.

The russet wolf, whom I still could not identify had sunken lower and lower to the ground as I spoke. It was as though my words were causing him physical pain. The black wolf retreated into the woods, only to come back as Sam Uley. I should of known, they wolves did all seem to revolve around him.

"It seems as though we're faced with a difficult situation here," Sam said, while I slowly started to walk backwards to join the Cullens.

"I see no difficult situation, Sam. He's imprinted on her, not only is that your sign that she is not a danger but if you were to destroy her now it would also be a breech of your own treaty," Edward declared with a smug grin on his face.

"Wipe that look off of your face, leech. I know that we can't touch her now, it would hurt him to much," Sam said viciously.

"He imprinted on her? Does that mean we're not going to fight?" Emmett so stupidly asked.

"If I understand correctly you're exactly right, Emmett. We will not be fighting today, or any other day I hope. I'd like to invite you inside to calmly discuss the situation, Sam and a few other if you'd like?" Carlisle stepped forward, resting his hand on my shoulder and gently pulling me closer.

Sam seemed to consider it for a moment, before he grudgingly flicked his head towards a few of the wolves and they retreated into the woods. Only two grey wolves, the russet wolf, a dark brown wolf, and Sam remained.

"I suppose we have no other option, do we?" Sam questioned.

My eyes locked once more with the russet wolf as I went through everything in my memory that was related to imprinting. It was then, that the night at Billy's that seemed to take place so long ago re-entered my mind. I gasped and fell back into Carlisle's chest.

"You mean, he's suppose to be my soul mate? Just like that, one minute he's out for my blood and the next minute he wants to love me forever?" I yelled, disgusted with the thought of some magical power having the ability to alter one's emotions so drastically.

The wolf's ears flattened and his eyes locked with mine. It was pathetic, but I regretted ever saying anything. I could feel the warmth spread through me- much like the one I had envisioned in my happy place only moments ago. All of the wolves that were still in their animal form retreated for the woods, including my imprinter. I had to stop myself from reaching towards him. This was ridiculous, I hated him... didn't I?

"They're coming back," Jasper said in an even tone. I wasn't sure if he was trying to reassure me, feeling my emotions, or simply trying to warn everyone else to not drop their positions.

Sure enough, they returned just seconds later. I recognized Leah, Paul, and Embry strolling towards Sam with their faces twisted into an ugly grimace. Then, a moment that I will have played over again and again in my mind took place.

He walked out, eyes locked on me. I didn't even notice the fact that he only wore a pair of torn shorts, or that his hair was frantically stuck up in various directions. I didn't even remember the fact that he had just been plotting my death earlier.

"Jake..." I whispered.

His eyes held an apologetic look, and he seemed ashamed of himself. Yet when he smiled that brilliant, heart-breaking smile I knew I was a goner. This, is where our real story begins.


	12. Explaining

It was Jasper who snapped me out of my love induced stupor by grasping my shoulder and steering me back into the house. As much as I wanted to turn around to look at Jake again I realized that there were still issues that needed to be cleared up. For instance, all of the people I considered to be my friends currently hated my guts and considered me as good as dead.

Renee always told me that I had shitty luck when it came to making friends; I suppose it was because if I felt uncomfortable with the situation then I preferred to retreat into my own little world and ignore those around me. Of course, this led to many nights curled up on the couch with Bella while we independently read our chosen novel for that night. I think the situation at hand though, trumped all of my past attempts (or lack thereof) of making friends. Figures that the first time I actually felt comfortable enough to be myself around a group of people they want me dead by the end of the week.

Carlisle led us all into the large dining room as it seemed to be the only space large enough to comfortably hold all thirteen of us comfortably. Or at least as comfortable as the wolves would get in our presence. Carlisle sat himself down at the far end of the table, with Esme and Edward quickly snatching up the seats closest to him. Rose and Emmett both chose to sit on Esme's side of the table while Alice and Jasper filled the seats nearest to Edward. Sam, Embry and Jake refused to sit at the table instead opting to stand near the entryway to the room while Leah and Paul couldn't contain the shakes that racked their human bodies and chose to instead wait outside of the main doors after an approving nod from Sam. I stood in between the two groups, conflicted as to where I belonged. I considered myself to be better acquainted with the wolves having spent my first few days here in their company yet after the whole 'we want to kill you' debacle and the Cullen's graciously saving me from a near death I supposed that I was better off staying closer to them in case this conversation did not go as according to plan.

Opting to stand in between where Jasper and Edward sat, I finally gathered the courage to glance up and meet the eyes I knew would be staring at me. Sure enough his eyes bore into mine and if it weren't for the pity I could clearly see underneath the brown irises I would not have been able to direct my gaze anywhere else. Instead, I opted for Edwards long slender fingers tapping a silent tune against the dark mahogany tabletop.

Carlisle began to delve into my tragic tale, beginning at the part where Alice had a vision immediately after the battle had wrapped up and Esme and she had executed what I personally considered to be the rescue of the century. I began to fidget as I could see Sam eyeing me carefully throughout the whole story trying to justify what Carlisle was explaining through his own eyes. A quick thought crossed my mind in which I wondered what was going on behind that tough exterior mask of his before I realized that with my newly developed powers I could easily find out.

Physically restraining myself from face-palming I lifted the blanket that surrounded my mind and focused on Sam, blocking out all other noises. Thoughts of Emily flitted through my mind as I struggled to get a grasp on what was the past and what was current. Narrowing my eyes on Edward's pale fingers as they increased in speed, I was finally able to gather my bearings and successfully block out his past thoughts as well. I wanted to avoid the invasion of privacy as much as I could by only listening in to current thoughts in cases of emergency or extreme curiosity. I considered this to fall under both categories.

_The unknown is risky. As much as I trust Brooke as a person, whatever sort of venom that currently runs through her veins is considered a risk. Do I consider her one of them? Or do I consider her to be one of us as an imprint? She's friends with the other imprints but is she safe enough to see them? I'm going to have to speak with the elders about whether or not she is allowed onto our side of the treaty line as she's technically not a full vampire. Unless of course her diet consists of blood… there's no way in hell she's going near Emily if that's the case. Poor Jake, the kid just can't catch a break what this will do to him if his imprint can't even come see hi-_

"I don't want blood…" My voice sounded weak and even I couldn't deny that I was scared. I quickly placed the blanket back over my mind, deciding that I'd rather everything be out in the open.

"Pardon me?" Sam asked while jerking his head in my direction. I quickly realized that by answering Sam's unspoken thoughts I had completely cut off Carlisle's story just as he was about to explain to them that they believed I was gifted.

I fidgeted with my ring and sighed deeply before lifting my gaze to meet his as Edward's persistent tapping came to an abrupt halt. Of course he had been listening to me listening to Sam so he was the only one in the room besides me who actually understood my random statement.

"I'm not a threat because I don't want blood. Actually if anything a cookie dough ice cream sounds delicious right about now…" I dragged a hand roughly through my hair as my frustration with the situation increased "…I'm not a threat to anyone because I'm still me, Sam. I'm still the same girl that you all accepted 2 days ago and were willing to protect. Although this is my fault that I'm like this it wasn't by choice at all, believe me. I'm just as scared and confused as you are by the whole situation and what I really need right now are my friends by my side, not to be turned on simply because my heart beats a little faster and my skin is a little more durable." I said, although by the end voice had simply become a whisper as I struggled to contain all of my emotions.

Jasper must have sensed that I was quickly reaching my breaking point and I felt marginally better although still very frustrated by their unwillingness to accept me simply because I had a more potent bloodstream now.

Jake made a move to step forward while his hand reached out in a desperate attempt to reach for me. I abruptly stepped back closer to Edward as Jake's face fell and his hand grasped empty air before falling back to his side once more. Although it sent a flare of pain through my body to see him upset because of my rejection, I was unsure of everything right now with only the Cullen's and Bella having my complete trust.

"Brooke, you know that we all consider you a friend but the truth of the matter is I have to do what's best for my pack and my people and you are an unknown risk factor. Sure you say that you're the same person but how can I be assured of my people's safety and your stability? This situation is new to us all," Sam explained while placing his hand on Jake's shoulder. Whether this was an attempt to soothe him or restrain him I was unsure of.

"This is all ridiculous; you can't actually believe that I find human blood appealing do you? I mean sure I'm more durable but I definitely don't have the strength to take down one of you guys or even one of the Cullen's for that matter," I exclaimed, placing my hands on my hips and turning to face Embry who had appeared uninterested throughout the whole conversation.

"Incoming," Leah dryly stated from the main foyer.

I cocked my head to the left and listened intently as I could hear angry footsteps briskly walking to the front door of the Cullen's house. Edward stood quickly from his position, shoving his chair back against the wall as he began to exit the room.

"Bella, what are you doing here? I thought I told you to stay with Charlie until I came for you," Edward asked.

"Listen I just want to see Brooke, she's my sister and I have the right to protect her just as much as you do." Bella fought back while entering the dining room, appearing surprised by the amount of people that were here.

As she entered the room, I could clearly see that she was carrying a vase full of purple daisies which have always been my preferred choice of flower. I was about to step forward and take them from her in gratitude when it happened.

Bella stumbled over the threshold of the room, tightening her grasp on the vase in surprise as she struggled to regain her balance. She miscalculated her strength as the tiny glass vase snapped in her grasp and shattered falling like fresh snow to the ground. A collective gasp filled the room as the Cullen's stood from their seats yet were unable to help as Bella stood closer to the wolves and any sudden movements could set them off.

As the sharp edges of the now broken vase cut into her palm, Jasper fled the room via the window with Alice close behind him. Everyone else jerked their gazes to evaluate my reaction while Edward rushed to Bella's aide.

I stepped forward and reached out to my sister at a leisurely pace while Emmett began to move closer to me, I suppose to pull me back if need be. However; I directed my gaze to Sam as I exited the dining room through the archway along the wall opposite of Bella and re-entered only once I was holding a wet cloth I had retrieved from the kitchen.

"Here, Bells you're going to want to put some pressure on that…" I said, while smirking at Sam and the other wolves who were now joined by Paul and Leah.

"Well I guess this answers your problem then, if she was actually one of us there is no way she would be controlling herself right now with fresh blood in that close of a vicinity," Carlisle explained while moving towards Bella.

Jake smiled towards me as if proud of my little display of confidence but I quickly shot him down with a glare. I didn't need him to be proud of me, I needed him to man-up and stop acting like his life depended on me.

"Yes well, I suppose I couldn't get better proof than this. I will present the situation to the Elder's and the rest of the pack and get their input before getting back to you. Brooke, I'm truly sorry it has to be this way but I'm going to have to ask you to remain on Cullen property until I can get this sorted out with them. I hope you can understand," Sam explained.

I nodded in appreciation towards him as this was the most I could ask for. They were going to give me a chance, they weren't going to kill me, and if Sam was on my side then I knew it would all work out in the end. Sam smiled at me slightly before nodding to the others and exiting the house, the rest of the pack closely behind him. Jake lingered, begging me with his eyes to approach him or acknowledge him. As much as I wanted to give in and let myself fall into his embrace I knew I wasn't ready for that yet. So as his brown orbs sent out a silent plea, I turned on my heel and followed Jasper and Alice's trail out of the dining room window and into back woods without even giving him a second glance.


End file.
